Attorneys for an Arizona man accused of being a serial rapist say that Facebook conversations between their client’s accusers will show that the alleged victims constructed an elaborate conspiracy to put the defendant behind bars.

Lawyers for 19-year-old
Tyler Kost have filed a motion in Pinal County Superior Court
requesting that the social media records of the teenage girls who
have accused their client of sexual assault be entered as
evidence.

Kost was arrested in April 2014 and has been charged with 30 sex
crimes involving more than a dozen victims, including mostly
girls he knew from high school. According to defense attorneys,
however, some of those accusers plotted to frame the teen.

At a hearing Monday, Kost’s lawyers told the court that Facebook
messages obtained by the Pinal County Sheriff's Office suggest
that three of the girls hatched a plan against their client
before any of the alleged accounts were reported.

“He needs to be taught a lesson,” one of the girls said
in the group chat, according to transcripts obtained by KPHO
News.

“We need to come up with a plan. And yes. We should sacrifice
him to Satan,” replied another.

According to a CBS News affiliate, Kost’s lawyers say the
"records disclosed so far show a blatant conspiracy by
several of the alleged victims and several civilian witnesses
associated with other victims."

Elsewhere in the conversation, one accuser suggested,
“[Let’s] f**k with his mind and his car.” At another
point, the teens made plans to watch the 2006 comedy "John Tucker
Must Die," the plot of which revolves around a group of high
school girls who plot revenge on a popular athlete.

"We should all just hangout, and watch the movie, and
plan,” one girl wrote in the group chat, according to
KSAZ.

"Over a year ago Mr. Kost was publicly accused of being a
serial rapist. What we know now is that there was a group of
girls who conspired against Tyler to put him in jail,”
Christine Whalin, an attorney for Kost, told the news station
this week. “They succeeded in that, and Tyler has now been in
jail for over a year based on those lies.”

Three separate indictments containing a total of 30 charges were
filed against Kost last year, sending him to pretrial detention
based on charges ranging from sexual abuse of a minor to child
molestation. According to authorities, his victims were between the
ages of 13 and 17.

"One of the victims actually became pregnant because of the
sexual assault, and she subsequently had an abortion," Pinal
County Sheriff Paul Babeu told reporters in 2014. "These are
horrible crimes that cannot be tolerated in our community."

"He would assault these young female victims in their own
bedrooms, in his bedroom, in the desert, at a community pool, at
community parks," Babeu said.

Kost’s legal team filed the motion asking Judge Kevin White to
accept the transcripts as evidence on March 24, according to Tri
Valley Central, and argued their request before a judge this
week. Prosecutors have already countered the request, though, and
filed a motion of their own last week, saying the conversations
in question aren’t under the Arizona district attorney’s control.

"In this case, the defense's motion to compel is based
entirely on speculation rather than materiality and facts,"
prosecutor Shawn Jensvold said, according to the newspaper,
adding that Kost's attorneys haven’t illustrated a
"substantial need" for the information.

“It's not the state's job to go on a fishing expedition for
the defense, which is very clear within the case law,"
Jensvold told the Associated Press.

Judge White is expected to rule on the request during the next
few weeks, KSAZ reported. Meanwhile, Kost’s trial is currently
slated to begin September 8. If convicted on all counts, he faces
a minimum of 160 years in prison, according to a Reuters report following Kost’s 2014 arrest.

If the defense’s latest request is granted, state prosecutors
will likely have to coordinate with the social networking site to
request the rest of the transcripts. AP reported Monday that the
prosecution has provided the defense with more than 98,000 pages
of social media records from several of the alleged victims, but
Kost’s team says the court should compel the release of
communications involving at least eight others.

“Quite frankly, the fact that the state is refusing to get any
additional social media records is concerning. It's shocking.
Based on what we've uncovered so far they should be dismissing
several charges. Instead they are digging their heels in and they
are refusing to give us anything additional," defense attorney
Michael Alarid told AP.